
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Public Service Announcement for all you online shoppers!

Saturday, November 07, 2009
Waking Up...
No, I'm not stopping, but I'm sure not thinking about it all the time like I used to! Probably because right now I'm busy thinking about so many other things. But there's another reason my blog has been so quiet lately. I haven't known what to say!
I've been going through a season lately that has been a bit hard to describe or explain or understand. I like it when I know what I'm struggling with and can explain it. I love it when I know what God is teaching me and doing in me and I can share it with others. But through most of the last few months, I have known God was doing a lot of work on me but I couldn't even put my finger exactly on what it was. I would have fleeting glimpses of Him but then they'd be gone.
Once I had the feeling I was in a spiritual operating room and God was doing surgery on me - which explained why I couldn't see or feel or hear much (I was under anesthesia I guess) as well as why God wasn't talking much. (I don't think surgeons are normally real chatty when they're working.) But I KNEW He was as work doing something deep inside of me.
I've felt like I was pushing through some thick darkness - not scary or depressing (Praise God!) just tedious and confusing. I've known that this was one of those journeys that would be easier to explain or understand once I was through it and could look back and say "OH! That's where I was! That's what we just got through!"
This song from Sanctus Real explains pretty well what I've been feeling. Chaos and peace, not knowing what God's doing, but knowing still that He's definitely doing something!
At other times I've had thoughts about spiritual "seasons" and how this year has brought me through them all. Amazing new fruit (spring and summer), glorious opportunities (fall), and then a time of pulling back and working hard on the roots preparing for future harvests (winter). (That would be now.)
But I think my winter is almost over. I've started feeling more and more like I'm wrestling out of a cocoon or trying to wake up from a long nap - not fully asleep or fully awake yet. This week I found Ephesians 5 (as if for the first time) where it talks about living a children of light and the light making things visible and it reminded me of what I was praying about (and wrote about here) about Creation and the light and when I read Ephesians 5:14 it was as if God was whispering in my ear "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!"
Yesterday I listened over and over to a fairly new song by Matt Maher called "Alive Again". (You can watch/listen to Matt explain the story behind the song HERE or you can listen to the song HERE.) It expresses so well what I'm feeling... or what I'm starting to feel... waking up, coming alive again... the light on the horizon when the sun's about to rise...
I can hardly wait. And you KNOW that I'm going to be back here to tell you all about it when I finally get the words... because I'm pretty sure Spring is on its way! : )
~Melissa
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Mundane and Miraculous
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
You Gotta See It...
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Steps of Faith
"My dad preached a great sermon last Sunday... He gave an analogy of a string of pearls, and how, if you look, back on the circumstances of your life and string them all up like a string of pearls - when you go through a new trial, you can go back and touch every pearl and say "This trial was preparing me for now."
That, by the way, is my beautiful daughter and the necklace (which she helped me make) looks much better on her than it did on the table. : ) I made it with her and we talked about things I remembered God doing in my life, times I was afraid and trusted God to help me, or times I didn't know what to do and God led me. Each one of those beads represents something special to me... when I asked Jesus into my heart, trusting God for the money to go to FPC, trips to Mexico, marrying Lowell, praying and hoping and waiting (years) for a baby, each of my kids, church, retreats... just to name a few. I wrote them all down so I won’t forget and I wear it. I wear it on days when I need to REMEMBER that God is faithful and I don't have to worry about the future that I can't figure out. I wear it when I need a tangible, touchable reminder of God’s plan being worked out in my life. And I love it when people ask me about it because I can tell them what it is and hopefully encourage them, too.
And by the way, I’ve given up on figuring out what God has planned for my future – or at least the near future – and how He’s going to accomplish whatever it is that He’s planned. I’ve wondered quite a bit this summer (okay, obsessed) about where He’s taking us and none of it has (yet) turned out like I expected. So for now, I’m just going to keep reminding myself that God knows the plans He has for me. And I don't need to know it all. (SIGH.) Just like He knew how each trial and blessing in my life was preparing me for now, He knows what’s next and what’s down the road. I intentionally left the necklace with extra space and tied so I can add to it as time goes by because I know there will be more to remember and share. But for now, I'll keep remembering and holding on to what I know... He is faithful. He is good. And He knows what He's doing.
Keep walking by faith...
~Melissa